When Acros FAIL: What are the most common reasons that acros don't make it?

How is your success rate with keeping acros in your reef aquarium?

  • Almost perfect

    Votes: 19 4.3%
  • Pretty darn good

    Votes: 167 38.2%
  • Not that great

    Votes: 118 27.0%
  • No success

    Votes: 40 9.2%
  • Haven't tried acros yet

    Votes: 82 18.8%
  • Other (please explain)

    Votes: 11 2.5%

  • Total voters
    437

TheDragonsReef

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With acros i really feel like you need to have the whole package figured out if you want to be really successful with them. Lighting and flow have to be suitable, parameters need to be in the correct range and steady and ph from 8.0-8.4.
 

slythy

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I just got a bunch of acros after having some success with a green slimer and monties and half look good and half lost all of their flesh immediately. It seems like the corals i received that were not spreading over the frag plug didnt make it but the ones that had some over the glue are happy. I think thats the number one thing I am going to look for on future acro purchases
 

CoralB

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Stability is the biggest factor I've found while keeping acros, not just the main parameters but also nutrients :)
I think you just wrote my recipe for success . Only addition I would add is proper lighting , lighting schedule, and par !,plus proper current !,, :cool:
 

Daniel@R2R

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I rate myself somewhere between "pretty darn good" and "not that great" :face-with-tears-of-joy:
 

littlebigreef

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The thing with acros (coming from a zoa guy) is that nutrients, parameters, can be consistently on point. Stuff can be growing and doing great and then out of no where- bam! RTN and 6 or 8 months worth of growth gone... or perhaps the whole dang thing. I'm a zoa guy, I get frustrated enough with my life lol. The misery that sps can cause is beyond me. That said. I have my various montis, tables and torts that do just fine in my mixed reef. Juicing the system one way or another to get more 'pop' out of tenuis? I don't have time for that in my life lol.
 

ReefGeezer

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All kidding aside, stability... of everything... is really the key. It is really harder than it sounds... at least for me. I've started putting SPS frags in my tank a while back and they have now started to grow. I'm struggling with the urge to fiddle with things like light intensity, color, and duration, flow rate and pattern, and stuff like that. Worse yet, I am already struggling with alkalinity. Not so much keeping it stable, but with the labor involved in my very manual two-part dosing process. Hopefully, I can get my calcium reactor going before I get too lazy and maybe, I can get it operating without inducing too much instability. Wish me luck.
 

KTTX

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Keeping a ros not hard. I got good polyp extensions etc. Growing just fine.

My issue is just not coloring up like what you see from these across sellers...must be some hidden juice?
 

vetteguy53081

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HudsonReefer2.0

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Some acro do better then others and I’m always learning 20yrs Reefing. I just try to keep a stable system with some nutrients and regarding alk 8.5 mag 1380-1400 and calcium 420 but usiually 390. Lol and a ph no lower then 8 but normally have it 8.2-.3 temp 77 sg 1.026. That’s just me. Im sure others have success with other numbers.
 

Charlie’s Frags

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Seems like the most common denominator of sps death threads is “all my parameters are stable”. So I don’t think that matters much.

Over stripping the water with elevated alk or over reacting to Hanna checkers is the biggest problem I see.
 

ReefGeezer

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Seems like the most common denominator of sps death threads is “all my parameters are stable”. So I don’t think that matters much.

Over stripping the water with elevated alk or over reacting to Hanna checkers is the biggest problem I see.
That is the statement made in every thread. But, some that state their "parameters" are stable may be limiting the list to just a few things that are measurable.

While I don't know it to be true, I operate as if there is a need to keep alk balanced with nutrient levels. I have seen high alkalinity in low nutrient systems cause problems, and I think I know why. I am not as sure about the effects of low alkalinity in high nutrient systems though. I would suggest that higher alkalinity might be better to promote skeletal growth to match the faster tissue growth that the nutrients might provide.
 

X-37B

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82 or higher
Ok. My 2 systems in the snake room run 82-84°f. This is because the snake room is 80°f year round. Never had an issue. I run my other system at 80°f in the family room.
The key is stability, imo, as the temp never varies more than a degree or 2 from day to night.
Most reef are in the 82° range in the ocean. I would not want anything over 84°.
Anyway thanks for the reply.
These are said systems for the record.
20220827_091612.jpg
20220503_114006.jpg
 

X-37B

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That is the statement made in every thread. But, some that state their "parameters" are stable may be limiting the list to just a few things that are measurable.

While I don't know it to be true, I operate as if there is a need to keep alk balanced with nutrient levels. I have seen high alkalinity in low nutrient systems cause problems, and I think I know why. I am not as sure about the effects of low alkalinity in high nutrient systems though. I would suggest that higher alkalinity might be better to promote skeletal growth to match the faster tissue growth that the nutrients might provide.
I run alk at 7 and po4 <.1 no3<5.
In my systems if nutrients are above po4 .3 then I see a reduction in color.
I am not a fan of high alk systems and get very good growth at close to NSW levels.
Also never have an issue if alk dips to 6.
Average ocean alk is 6.5.
 

vetteguy53081

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Ok. My 2 systems in the snake room run 82-84°f. This is because the snake room is 80°f year round. Never had an issue. I run my other system at 80°f in the family room.
The key is stability, imo, as the temp never varies more than a degree or 2 from day to night.
Most reef are in the 82° range in the ocean. I would not want anything over 84°.
Anyway thanks for the reply.
These are said systems for the record.
20220827_091612.jpg
20220503_114006.jpg
Very nice
Difference is your tank hits 82-84 but not set for that temp
It was high temperature that contributed to large coral loss both in Australia and Florida
 

Wasabiroot

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Echoing what everyone else says. Stability. I run AFR and my alk stays within 0.1 -0.2 over a one week span. I think also staying on top of your feeding AND export and not just adding stuff without considering taking anything undigested out.
Monitoring alk regularly helps.

I also found that I pay less and less attention to my phosphates as time goes on. The acros are encrusting and colorful with good PE so no point in chasing a number.
 

X-37B

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Very nice
Difference is your tank hits 82-84 but not set for that temp
It was high temperature that contributed to large coral loss both in Australia and Florida
No it runs 82-84 year round with no heater. It just stable at that temp, imo.
Its the fulucuation in temps that cause issues in tanks and the ocean, imo.
 

Dburr1014

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That is the statement made in every thread. But, some that state their "parameters" are stable may be limiting the list to just a few things that are measurable.

While I don't know it to be true, I operate as if there is a need to keep alk balanced with nutrient levels. I have seen high alkalinity in low nutrient systems cause problems, and I think I know why. I am not as sure about the effects of low alkalinity in high nutrient systems though. I would suggest that higher alkalinity might be better to promote skeletal growth to match the faster tissue growth that the nutrients might provide.
I would think low alk high nutrient system would be browning. I couldn't get much color when my po4 was above 0.12. I know every system is different Charlie. ;)

When I ran out of co2 and dosed things were going great. But when the co2 came back online my alk spiked from 8.0 to 12.1 in a few days. All I did was shut off the co2. Everyday it dropped 1 dkh. Corals were not bothered one bit. It now sits at 8.7 for 2 weeks now.

Edit: corrected my wording
 

Dorsetsteve

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Wild coral death, bleaching events are about more than temperature. Peak growth temperature and average reef crest temps are 28c (83f). It’s the acidification and pollution with it and those wild reefs are also hitting well over 28c, over 30c in some cases.

I always used to run at 27/28c. I’ve only recently reduced to 24.5c when I caught white bugs, the intent was to slow them down and the death. I was dubious. Kept it down as the evaporation has dropped by near half, it’s saving electric and not noticed any difference positive or negative.
 
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